Swimming with Seals

Today we’d booked to go on a snorkelling tour where we could swim with some local Cape Fur Seals. There’s a colony of a few thousand seals living on Duiker Island, just around the peninsula from Hout Bay.

We had our brief instruction, and were kitted up with thick 5mm wet suits, neoprene boots and fins; and then a short ride in a “bakkie” (South African slang for pick-up truck) to the harbour where we boarded the rib.

A short and quick ride round the peninsula and you could smell the seals before you could see them. It was not a pleasant smell! We stopped in a more sheltered area, and could see the seals face down with their flippers in the air, presumably watching for their prey. It was quite easy to confuse them strands of the large kelp which was also abundant here. Our guide also told us there was an elephant seal visiting (intruding on?) the colony, who had apparently been seen drowning some of the much smaller fur seals.

We jumped in the water, which was not warm, and swum to the seals. They weren’t tame, but neither were they startled by our appearance. If you got too close they’d swim off, sometimes with a couple of twists and turns – showing off. The sea was littered with the shells of prawns, masking the visibility of the water. The seals had obviously been having quite a feast. We also came across a dead seal, floating the water, with it’s head missing! We left that well alone.

After about an hour in the water, it was time to head back. After de-kitting and a quick shower we went and got a bite to eat at the Chapman’s Peak Hotel, famous for it’s calamari.